church. And perhaps St. Jerom intends the same by the se- tropea, 10. Casa is another name in the same Acts of Purgation Why casæ, of Cæcilian and Felix 88, which I take to be the name of a and tituli. church also for though it might be something doubtful from that place alone, yet finding it so used in other authors, I conclude it was one of the ancient names of their churches. For Bede 89 tells us, the town of St. Martins in Bernicia, a pro (v. 2. p. 121. 15.) Tŷ yàp éßdoμádi μετὰ τὴν ἁγίαν Πεντηκοστὴν, ὁ λαὸς νηστεύσας ἐξῆλθε περὶ τὸ κοιμητήριον εὔξασθαι, διὰ τὸ πάντας ἀποστρέφει σθαι τὴν πρὸς Γεώργιον κοινωνίαν. 84 In Ezek. c. 40. (t. 5. p. 468 b.) Dum essem Romæ puer, et liberalibus studiis erudirer, solebam cum cæteris ejusdem ætatis et propositi, diebus dominicis, sepulchra Apostolorum et Martyrum circuire, crebroque cryptas ingredi, &c. 85 Ad Scapul. c. 3. (p. 70a.)..... Sicut et sub Hilariano præsides cum de areis sepulturarum nostrarum acclamassent, Areæ non sint! areæ ipsorum non fuerunt: messes enim suas non egerunt. 86 Ad calc. Optat. p. 272. (CC. t. BINGHAM, VOL. III. 1. p. 1449 b.) Cives in area marty- 87 Vid. Acta Concilii Cirtensis ap. ... Cives in area martyrum fuerunt inclusi, &c.-Passio Cypriani. (Vit. præfix. Ed. Amstel. 1700. p. 15.) Ejus corpus positum est. . . . in areis Macrobii Candidi. 88 Ad calc. Optat. p. 272. (CC. t. 1. p. 1449 b.) Numquid populus Dei ibi fuit? Saturninus dixit, In casa majore fuit inclusus.—Item, p. 274. (ibid. p. 1450 c.)..... Præsens cum populo inclusus in casa majore. 59 Hist. 1. 3. c. 4. (p. 106. 27.) Qui locus ad provinciam Berniciorum C vince of Britain, came to be vulgarly called Candida Casa, Whitern, or Whitchurch, from the church of stone which bishop Ninyas built in it. And I leave it as a query, whether Casa Nigra in Afric, where Donatus was bishop, be not beholden to some such circumstance for its denomination also? But why churches should be called case is not very easy to conjecture: till a better reason can be found, let us suppose it to be from the plainness and simplicity of them, of which we shall have something more to say in the next chapter. Mr. Mede has observed another name for churches, which is not very common, in Caius Romanus, an ancient writer in Eusebius, who uses the term Tropaa Apostolorum, as Mr. Mede 90 conjectures, to denote two churches of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome. But I confess there is some reason to ques-` tion, whether in that place it means churches, and not rather the monuments or sepulchres of those Apostles. For Eusebius is only speaking of their bodies being buried at Rome; to confirm which opinion he quotes that ancient writer in these words 91: We can yet shew the trophies of the Apostles; for whether you go to the Vatican or the Via Ostiensis, you may there see the trophies of those who founded this church;' meaning the church of Rome, which was founded by St. Peter and St. Paul, whose sepulchres were then to be seen, the former in the Vatican Hill, and the other in the way from Ostia to Rome. However, in after-ages, when churches were built over their sepulchres, then their trophies became a name for those churches, as we may learn from those words of St. Jerom to Marcella 92, who lived at Rome, You have there an holy church, you have there the trophies of the Apostles and Martyrs.' For now it is certain their sepulchres were advanced 92 Ep. 18. [al. 46. Paul. et Eustoch. ad Marcell. c. 11.] (t. 1. p. 206 b.) Est quidem tibi sancta ecclesia, sunt tropæa Apostolorum et Martyrum.-So Gildas, de Excidio Britanniæ, (ap. Bibl. Patr. t. 5. p. 676. c. 16.) and Bede, Hist. 1. 1. c. 8, (p. 47. 18.) call them signa victricia martyrum.—See also Eusebius, de Laud. Constant. c. 17, (v. I. p. 770. 30.) who terms them τρόπαια νικητήρια. into churches, and both together called trophies, as being manifest tokens and evidences of the victory which they had gained over their enemies, by resisting unto blood, and triumphing after death. There is yet another name, of which it is not easy to give so exact an account; that is, why some churches had the name of tituli given them peculiarly in Rome. In the Pontifical, in the Life of Marcellus 93, it is said of him, that he appointed twenty-five tituli in Rome, for the convenience of baptizing new converts. And in the same place one Lucina, a widow, is said to have dedicated her house 94 to be made a titulus, or church, where they worshipped Christ day and night with prayers and hymns, till Maxentius, the tyrant, hearing of it, turned the church into a stable, and forced Marcellus to be the keeper of it. These are supposed to be the same as parishchurches, erected for the convenience of administering divine offices, as the multitude of converts increased in Rome. But why they were called tituli is not exactly agreed among learned men. Baronius 95 will have them to be so called, because they had the sign of the cross upon them, by which sign or title they were known to belong to Christ, as things which belonged to the Emperor's exchequer were known to be his by an appendant veil, which had either his image or his name, by way of title, inscribed upon it. But it does not appear that the sign of the cross was so early fixed upon churches; or if it were, that it was the peculiar distinction of a parish-church : for no doubt the cathedral, or bishop's church, had that sign as 93 Pontifical. (CC. t. 1. p. 946 c.) Hic fecit cœmeterium Via Salaria, et viginti quinque titulos in Urbe Roma constituit, quasi dioceses, propter baptismum et pœnitentiam multorum, qui convertebantur ex paganis, et propter sepulturas martyrum. 94 Ibid. (ibid. d.) Lucina.... domum suam nomine tituli beati Marcelli dedicavit, ubi die noctuque hymnis et orationibus Domino Jesu Christo confitebantur, &c.-Vid. Pii Ep. 2. [al. 4.] ad Just. See afterwards, s. 14. p. 29. n. 39. 95 An. 112. n. 5. (t. 2. p. 50 e.)... Unde acciderit, ut domus fidelium in sacrum usum conversæ, quas nos ecclesias dicimus, a majoribus tituli dicerentur, paucis aperiendum. A rebus fiscalibus videtur accepta esse nomenclatura: tituli namque impositione rem aliquam sibi fiscus solitus erat vindicare, atque principi consecrare: ut cum ait imperator, Tituli vero, quorum adjectione prædia nostris sunt consecranda substantiis, non nisi publica testificatione proponantur. Fuisse hujusmodi titulos vela quædam, quæ regiam repræsentarent potestatem, vel imaginibus imperatorum, vel nominis ipsorum inscriptione insignita, multa sunt, quæ poterunt demonstrare, &c. Of tabernacles and minsters, soon as any others. Mr. Mede 96 offers two other reasons, and leaves the reader to determine whether they were so called, because by their dedication the name of Christ our Lord was as it were inscribed upon them, as the manner then was to set the names or titles of the owners upon their houses and possessions; and so it would concur in notion with those other names of Kupiaкòv and Basilica, the Lord's and the King's; or whether because they gave a title of cure, or denomination, to the presbyters to whom they were committed. This last I take to be the true reason of the name till one more probable can be thought of. As to the fancy of Onuphrius 97, that the number of these tituli was exactly the same with that of cardinal-presbyters now, and never exceeding the number of twenty-eight,' it is an imagination without ground; for Optatus speaks of above forty churches in Rome before the time of the last persecution, as I shall have occasion to shew more fully in the next Book. 11. There are several other less usual names of churches in ancient writers, which I need not stand upon; such as limina and some martyrum, the houses of the martyrs, used by St. Jerom 98; σῆκος and τέμενος, words of the same import with temple, which we sometimes meet with in Theodoret 99, Synesius1, and Evagrius. In Eusebius3, domus synaxeos sometimes occurs other less usual names of churches. 96 Discourse of Churches. (p.328.) Why the Roman Church called such places by the name of tituli, &c. 97 Interpret. Voc. Eccles. p. 13. (ad calc. Platinæ, Colon. Agripp. 1626, P. 79.) Quum primo infinita Gentilium multitudo, mox Urbs et Italia omnis, fidem Christi suscepisset, non sufficientibus 15 titulis, nec his, qui in eis residebant, presbyteris, tum ob necessitatem, tum ad Urbis et Romana Ecclesiæ ornamentum et majestatem, et titulorum et presbyterorum in unoquoque numerus auctus est; factique sunt tituli 28; quem numerum numquam excessisse usque ad nostra tempora, satis constat. 98 Ep. 15. [al. 24.] ad Marcell. (t. 1. p. 127 e.) Ad martyrum limina pene invisa properabat. 99 Serm. de Mart. [al. Græc. Affect. Curat. disput. 8.] (t. 4. part. 2. 923.) Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκείνων οὕτω παν τελῶς διελύθη τεμένη, ὡς μηδὲ τῶν 2 L. 1. c. 14. (v. 3. p. 268. 9.) 'Eπόθουν τὸ τέμενος τούτου δὴ τοῦ ἁγίου cáoaodai.-L. 6. c. 8. (ibid. p. 459. 16.). Πέπτωκε δὲ καὶ τὰ πολλὰ τῆς καλουμένης Οστρακίνης, καὶ ὁ πρόσω θεν ἔφαμεν Ψηφίον, καὶ σύμπαντα τὰ καλούμενα Βρυσία, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν πάνσεπτον σηκὸν τῆς Θεοτόκου, μόνης τῆς μέσης στοᾶς παραδόξως σωθείσης. 3 L. 7. c. 8. [Vid. 1. 8. c. 17. (v. I. p. 404. 30.) Καὶ τοὺς οἴκους, ἐν οἷς συνήγοντο, συνθῶσιν οὕτως, κ. τ.λ. -Vid. Gest. Purgat. Cæcil. ad calc. Optat. (CC. t. 1. pp. 1443, seqq.) The citation is indistinct. ED.] in the Rescripts of heathen Emperors for Christian churches, which signifies no more but houses of assembly. Chrysostom1 styles them the seat of doctrine, from the exercise of preaching therein. And many such names are to be met with, which need no explication. But there are two names more used by Eusebius, which some learned men have greatly mistaken. In one place, speaking of the Therapeute in Egypt, whom he reckons the first Christians converted by St. Mark, and described covertly by Philo-Judæus, he gives their churches the name of σεμνεία and μοναστήρια, which some mistake for monasteries in the modern sense; whereas Eusebius 5 says expressly it was the name which Philo gave, not to their habitations but their churches. For,' says he, 'Philo having described their habitations, afterward speaks thus of their churches in that region: "In every one of their dwellings there is a sacred house or chapel, which they call their semneum and monasterium, where they perform the religious mysteries proper to their holy life. For hither they bring nothing ever of meat or drink or other bodily necessaries, but only their laws and inspired oracles of their prophets, their hymns, and whatever else tends to augment and consummate a life of piety and knowledge."' This is not the description of a monastery in the modern sense, but of a church; and so we see the name was first used, as it is at this day, among the Germans, who hence call some of their churches munsters, as we do minsters, which were heretofore collegiate churches and schools of learning, like St. Austin's monastery-church, of which I have given an account in the former Book 6. This is further confirmed, because Eusebius joins the name σeμveîov to monastery to explain it, which by the best critics, ancient and modern,-Hesychius, Budæus, Suicerus, and others,—is reckoned to signify a temple, or place of divine service. Eusebius has yet another name for a church, which I mention only because it is liable to the same mistake. 4 Hom. 2. in Joan. [I cannot find the expression referred to according to the author's citation. But in the opening of Hom. 3. al. 2. in Joan. (t. 8. p. 16 b.) the term Tò TVEνμatiκὸν τοῦτο θέατρον occurs. Conf. Hom. I. in init. ED.] 5 L. 2. c. 17. (v. I. p. 67. 33.) Είθ' ἑξῆς, τὰς οἰκήσεις αὐτῶν ὁποῖαί τινες ἦσαν διαγράψας, περὶ τῶν κατὰ χώραν ἐκκλησιῶν ταῦτα φησίν. Ἐν ἑκά στῃ δὲ οἰκίᾳ ἔστιν οἴκημα ἱερὸν, ὃ καλεῖται σεμνεῖον καὶ μοναστήριον· ἐν ᾧ μονούμενοι τὰ τοῦ σεμνοῦ βίου μυστήρια τελοῦνται· μηδὲν εἰσκομίζοντες, μὴ ποτὸν μὴ σιτίον, μήτε τι τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσα πρὸς τὰς τοῦ σώματος χρείας ἀναγκαῖα, ἀλλὰ νόμους καὶ λόγια θεσπιθέντα διὰ προφητῶν, καὶ ὕμνους, καὶ τ ̓ ἄλλα, οἷς ἐπιστήμη καὶ εὐσέβεια συναύξονται καὶ τελειοῦνται. 6 B. 7. ch. 2. s. 8. v. 2. p. 341. |